Page 33 of Walker

“True, but then again, the sexy biker bitch aesthetic would look great on you.”

“Okay, well, I’m nixing that idea, and I think I’ll call Trinity for advice on what to wear instead. Is she coming tonight or is she still boycotting the club because of the boys she grew up with?”

“I don’t think Trouble will be there, so she might come.”

“Okay, well whenever you two want to fill me in on all the finer details of Trouble and Trinity’s hate-fest, I’m all ears. She still refuses to tell me anything.”

“That story needs to come from her, but if she knows he won’t be there, she’ll show up.”

“Okay then, hurry up and get here.”

Shaina showed up about twenty minutes later and I immediately started to worry again that maybe it wasn’t right to show up at the clubhouse uninvited by the man I was dating. Surely, he would have called if he wanted me there.

“If Walker gets mad about me showing up, I’m going to blame you.”

“That’s fine. I can take the heat. Besides, I’ll look like a bad bitch doing it.” She pointed down at her feet where she was wearing five-inch tall, spiked stilettos. They were all black except that spike of heel. That looked to be silver or chrome or some shiny metal that was bound to pick up the light and reflect it like a disco ball. Shaina’s blonde hair was set in chunky curls down her back and even those strands of hers appeared glossier than should be normal.

“You look amazing and I’m a bit jealous because I don’t think I can compare, no matter what I wear.” I glanced up when Shaina didn’t respond and noticed she was staring out the window.

“What’s going on?”

“There’s a man out there in one of those ancient cop cars. You know, back when they used the Impalas? He’s been sitting there since I arrived. No telling how long he was there before I pulled up.”

“Maybe he’s waiting for someone,” I suggested.

“Who? Mrs. Meyerson who never leaves her home? We live in the mountains where neighbors are sparse. Most of the houses on this street are vacation rentals and it isn’t exactly peak season.”

“Maybe he’s waiting for his GPS to update his location, you know how the signal is around here?” When she shrugged, I tried again. “He might have lost his key to a vacation rental and he’s waiting on the property manager to bring him another one?”

Out of curiosity, I moved to the window to check it out. I picked my phone up and snapped a picture of the car and then zoomed in as well as I could to see if I could get a clear shot of his face. All I could really see was that he had a fairly full beard, and it appeared darker than the rest of him.

“Now you have me paranoid and I’m not sure if I should go. What if he’s waiting for me to leave so that he can kidnap my kids?”

Shaina laughed. “Of all the things. You think some rando sitting in his pathetic car is out to steal your kids?”

“Seems more plausible than him sitting there because he lost his keys.”

Headlights glared on the man and his car as my sister pulled up to the house. It was then that the man took off. “Maybe he thought three women in the home was a crowd?” Shaina asked.

“Maybe.” When my sister came inside, I told her about the man and asked her to stay vigilant and text me immediately if he showed up again.

I finished getting dressed, gave my kids a hug and kiss, reminded my sister to keep watch, and then Shaina and I headed out. Something about the man who had been parked outside of my house didn’t sit right with me.

“Please, tell me that is not Wash over there!” Shaina shouted two minutes after we entered the clubhouse. Wash was in my line of sight as well, but then again, so was the nearly naked woman who was crawling all over him. I shook my head knowing that Shaina would undoubtedly make a scene. It made me remember the date I’d had with Walker when he had banished those two women from the club just for hanging out with the third. Suddenly, I wondered if I would be kicked out and banished along with Shaina if she did something stupid.

“You look a little lost,” an adorably pregnant woman said to me. I turned to see her smile as she tugged on my arm to pull me off to the side, so that I wasn’t standing there like a lump in front of the door.

“Where are all the men?” I asked when realization set in that Wash and a few others were the only men in the open bar area of the clubhouse. The rest were all women who either appeared to be bored out of their minds or they were stuck to one of the available men like glue. I winced as Shaina pulled the club girl off Wash and then started to lay into him about how he allowed that bullshit to happen.

“It’s not like that for everyone,” the woman who had pulled me to the side suggested. “My old man would never allow that to happen. He’s in the back handling club business with everyone else.”

“Oh. I’m Reesa, by the way.”

“Reesa? That’s unusual.”

“Theresa, but everyone has called me Reesa or Ree for so long that I sometimes won’t even answer if someone uses my full government name,” I joked.

“That’s cool. I like it. Did you come with your friend, or do you have a man that you’re waiting on?”

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